Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 51:17

1. Cath's Corner2. In the Tip Store - A Different Slant on Saving Spare Change; Shrink Excess Produce for the Long Term; Saving for "Myself"3. Share Your Tips4. On the Menu - Overnight Ginger Beer5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - Charity Giving6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog7. Last Week's Question - I need help finding the best Internet plan8. This Week's Question - Mt Washmore is Taking Over (and I don't like it!)9. Ask Cath10. Join the Cheapskates Club11. Frequently Asked Questions12. Contact Details

1. Cath's Corner

Hello Cheapskaters,

This is our second last newsletter for the year. It's clichéd, but this year has gone fast. Before we know it we'll have a whole new year ahead, but before then we'll be celebrating Christmas, with family and friends.

From our home, to yours, however you celebrate this wonderful time of year, we wish you peace, joy, happiness and all good things now and in the future.

A Different Slant on Saving Spare ChangeI've been putting my spare gold coins into a piggy bank at the end of every day for a few years now, but recently I decided I'd include some notes as well - usually the smallest one I have in my wallet at the end of the day. I've found that it's such a quick, easy and effective way of saving more than you think is possible in a short period of time, provided you do it every day. I managed to save close to $2000 in under a year just from putting spare change aside. It's quick and painlessContributed by Janice Teo

Shrink Excess Produce for the Long TermNow that we are a household of two, I find that there are often excess fresh veggies coming from the garden (or on special at the local store) for us to eat quickly. Solution: I treated myself to a Food Dehydrator from Appliances On-line for $40.00, and now have a supply of freshly dehydrated fruit and veggies: strawberries, apples, melon, pineapple, watermelon, zucchini, leeks, corn kernels, mushrooms, cabbage, pumpkin, all my herbs etc.

Any excess I dry overnight and store for future use instead of throwing out or allowing to ruin in the bottom of the fridge.

Soup is a breeze now; I simply go from jar to jar and throw in a tablespoon of all veggies and in half an hour we have a stunning vegetable soup - basically from nothing and for free! This method also frees up a huge amount of storage space in the freezer.

I even dehydrate bags of frozen corn kernels (really yummy to snack on) and mixed vegetables. The fruit is additive free, and we take a snack bag with us in the car. Dried goods need very little storage space as they dry down to about 10% of their original mass.

We don't waste anything anymore! Why not buy one together with a friend - halve the purchase price and reap the benefits!Contributed by Annie Stuart

Saving for "Myself"I have a money tin (not the type you can open till full) into which I put a gold coin for every job I do around the place that I know someone else should be doing. It's not for regular housework, it's more like picking up that jumper always on the floor or putting down the toilet seat. There are things which the family can be trained to do and others we know will never happen. We can nag (which doesn't work) or have the martyr attitude or just get paid to do it!!My tin is silently filling up!Contributed by Anne Wilson

The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club. We publish a Winning Tip each Thursday, so enter your great money, time or energy saving idea now.Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.

I plan on making a couple of batches of Overnight Ginger Beer this weekend, ready to have chilled for our Christmas table. This recipe is so easy, no need to feed a plant and wait weeks, so it's the perfect "in-a-hurry" recipe.

Method:Combine the water, sugar, lemon juice, ginger and yeast in a large bowl. Cover loosely with a tea towel and leave it overnight.

The next morning use a slotted spoon to skim off the scum that has risen to the surface of the yeast mixture. Use a funnel to pour the mixture into a 2 litre airtight plastic bottle (don't fill the bottle to the top). Tighten the lid. Place in the fridge to chill (the ginger beer must be kept well chilled). Serve icy cold, over ice.

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: Christmas Dinner

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Gnocchi in Tomato Sauce

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Hamburgers

Saturday: Kebabs with salad, tabouli, hommos

In the fruit bowl: bananas, peaches, nectarines

In the cake tin: Fruitcake, shortbread, lemon slice, white ChristmasThere are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.

5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy

From the Archives: Charity Giving

Hello Cheapskaters. It's just over eleven weeks to Christmas YAY!!! I love Christmas as it's the time of the year we celebrate the birth of Jesus - the greatest gift ever given. I love to give to others especially those in need.

As you start to think about Christmas presents and food for your own celebrations, please take the time to plan how you'll help others. Here are some ideas that won't blow out your grocery budget -

*Clean out your pantry and donate excess tinned and dried foods to charities, churches and schools that are collecting.

*Each time you do your grocery shop add a couple of tins of spaghetti, baked beans, fruit and vegetables. You could do this every time you are tempted buy a bottle of soft drink or a packet of chips as a part of your usual shop.

*Next time you feel like takeaway, put the money towards buying food for charity.

Last week's question was from Harmina who wrote"I am not very savvy at computer internet provider options. Does anyone have knowledge/experience choosing the cheapest network provider? The best for the least cost. Excuse my ignorance, but does one need to have a phone line to access the internet, or is there a better way now? Is it cheaper to have internet via modem or access via mobile phone; or is there another device that would be best? Does one have to have NBN or can we still choose? Any information would be useful. Thank you."

Jacqui M answeredInternet - We were with Telstra ADSL+2 (100G data + includes phone line rental) for $70 a month (this includes a $10 discount). But Belong have the same data 100G for $55/m on a 12 month plan (if you already have a landline - not sure how much if you don't have a land line). And I also got $20 off my 1st bill, and I won't get a bill until the 1st of the month (so I've got 2 weeks free a swell).

Mobile - Now we don't actually use the land line, but Telechoice have BYO (Bring your own mobile) and for $20/month. I get $500 worth of calls, 2GB data + free txt + free calls to anyone who is with Telechoice.

We are on the net a lot at home, and haven't gone over (if you do it just gets slow) and get alerts when my mobile is at 50%, 85% so this seems to be a good price for this type of data allowance.So hopefully this info helps you a little.

Susan Czermak answeredIf you want ADSL broadband you need to have a phone line.

If NBN is going past your door, while you may be able to still have ADSL in some areas, but pretty soon that will not be an option. NBN suppliers and their reliability are very variable.

If you don't use internet much, then probably the cheapest solution is to buy a year's supply of prepaid mobile internet from Telstra or Optus for about $130. You can get a 30 day starter dongle from the supermarket for about $40.00 and then you can top it up online. It probably will be less than a year's supply but will expire in a year or more depending on who supplies it and how much you use.

You can also get mobile internet plans. There are two problems with mobile internet. Depending on where you are it can get congested or be slow anyway. If you are thinking of downloading movies it is completely unviable due to the low download size provided and in many cases low speed as well.

8. This Week's Question

Janelle writes"I'm getting buried by washing - and I've had enough. We're a family of five (two adults, a 5yo, 9yo and about to turn 13yo) and we have more washing now that when the kids were babies. I wash every day, with an extra two loads a day on Saturday and Sunday (I feel like I spend my weekend in the laundry) and it's still not all done. I'm dreading the holidays and the potential extra washing already. I try to line dry as much as possible, but at the weekend I run out of room on the line and the overflow goes onto the clotheshorses. I have four - one for each of the kids and one for DH and me to share (thanks to Cath for this great tip). In summer they live on the back deck, in winter they're in the bedrooms over the heater vents. I try really hard to not use the dryer but I'm finding it is getting used, even at this time of year, because of the amount of laundry we're creating. Every day we have two work uniforms, three school shirts, socks, undies, etc. Every second day you can add school shorts/trousers or sport uniforms. Then there are the cricket uniforms (or footy in winter), hockey and cricket for my DH, PJs, play clothes, towels, bedding, tea towels, tablecloth and so on. The kids wear their shorts/trousers for two days, DH and I try to stretch our uniforms, but they can get messy at work, and the boys do change after school to play clothes that they wear for the week (they're only in them until bed time). It feels like the more I do the more we have. Does anyone have a routine or suggestions for how I can get a handle on Mt Washmore (at the moment the washing is folded straight off the line and put away immediately - another gem from Cath) and I don't iron (unless it's our good clothes for a special occasion), so I have a handle on that part. It's the amount of actual washing that's getting to me. Even using Cheapskates Washing Powder and vinegar for the rinse, with the cost of water and electricity keeping us in clean clothes is costing a fortune."

Do you have the answer?

If you can help Janelle, let us know. We'll enter your answer into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize too.​ Send your answer

9. Ask Cath

We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.

I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).

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12. Contact Details

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